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Biotech / Medical : STEM -- StemCells, Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LLCF who wrote (313)	9/16/1999 5:28:00 PM
From: CrazyTrain	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 805

ALEXANDRIA, VA, September 16, 1999 (COMTEX) -- Today's stocks on the Nasdaq Stock Market that have advanced in price in each of the past 5 days. 5-Day Last Change Volume %Gain Central European Media Enter 2 17/32 +9/32 826,400 69% Vysis Inc 4 15/16 +1 5/16 1,079,900 61% Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp 5 5/16 +3/8 698,100 59% Aurora Biosciences Corp 15 1/2 +3/16 882,100 55% Network Connection 2 11/16 +1/4 42,200 48% Acacia Research Corp 11 3/4 +1 3/4 984,900 44% eToys Inc 62 3/4 +1 15/32 1,023,500 44% AgriBioTech Inc 5 3/32 +21/32 890,500 38% Cytotherapeutics Inc 2 1/32 +9/32 457,300 33% Spectra-Physics Lasers 11 1/8 +1/2 16,000 31% Choicetel Comm 2 1/2 +1/16 30,200 31% Progenics Pharmaceuticals 26 1/2 +3/4 252,700 30% Dectron Internationale 4 3/8 +1/8 21,400 30% Micro Component Tech 5 9/16 +1/8 604,900 30% School Specialty Inc 15 11/16 +7/16 71,200 26% Ansoft Corp 8 1/2 +3/8 50,100 26% Zany Brainy Inc 9 5/8 +9/16 607,700 22% Zygo Corp 13 5/16 +1/16 67,900 22% Micron Electronics 13 3/16 +1/8 2,174,400 21% Electro Scientific Inds 48 7/8 +2 1/2 346,400 20% Express Scripts Inc 85 15/16 +2 3/16 656,100 20% Market data provided by Data Broadcasting Corporation. Copyright 1999 Comtex Scientific Corporation. * end of story *

To: LLCF who wrote (313)	9/22/1999 9:03:00 AM
From: LLCF	Respond to of 805

Hmmmmm: Wednesday September 22, 8:05 am Eastern Time Company Press Release Fetal Pig Cells Implanted in Stroke Patient BOSTON--(BW HealthWire)--Sept. 22, 1999--Diacrin scientists along with doctors at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center have become the first in the world to implant fetal pig brain cells into the brain of a stroke patient. The collaborators hope that the fetal pig brain cells will replace the cells that have died as a result of the stroke. ''We are excited about the possibilities that this therapy will provide for stroke patients who otherwise would expect very little recovery. Through this trial we hope to begin to understand how patients would most benefit from cell therapy and what the risks might be,'' says Louis Caplan, MD, BI-Deaconess neurologist and neurology professor at Harvard Medical School. Despite extensive rehabilitation efforts since her stroke four years ago, the patient, 39, has not been able to regain enough use of her left hand to return to her job as a dental hygienist in Saratoga Springs, New York. This was the first patient treated as part of a Phase 1 clinical trial that is being done by Diacrin in collaboration with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. The cells used in this trial are pretreated such that patients do not need to take immunosuppressive medicine to prevent the patient's immune system from rejecting the cells. This immunological pretreatment is based on a patented technology exclusively licensed to Diacrin by Massachusetts General Hospital. ''It's not a cure yet,'' says BI-Deaconess neurosurgeon-in-chief Julian Wu, MD, who performed the xenograft. ''But, it's exciting to consider that this may be a beginning to treating strokes in the near-future.'' ''Considering the encouraging clinical results we have seen using cell transplantation to treat Parkinson's disease patients and focal epilepsy patients, and knowing the prevalence of stroke in our society, we are very excited to begin this trial,'' said Thomas H. Fraser, PhD, Diacrin president and CEO. Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States, ranking behind coronary artery disease and cancer. It is also the leading cause of long-term disability in the U.S. Diacrin is targeting patients who have had ischemic stroke. Ischemic stroke is caused by lack of blood flow to a region of the brain, causing neuronal cell death. Initially the trial will focus on transplanting cells into areas of cell death principally in the striatal region of the brain. The striatum includes deep brain structures. Transplantation of porcine fetal neural cells may repair the damaged neuronal circuitry caused by the stroke. Animal studies have demonstrated the feasibility of repairing and restoring function to the stroke damaged brain. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is a major teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and a founding member of CareGroup, an integrated system of quality healthcare serving the individual, family, and community. Diacrin is developing transplantable cells for the treatment of human diseases which are characterized by cell dysfunction or cell death and for which current therapies are either inadequate or nonexistent. Products under development for the treatment of neurological disorders include: NeuroCell(TM)-PD for Parkinson's disease and NeuroCell(TM)-HD for Huntington's disease, both of which are being developed in a joint venture with Genzyme Corporation, NeuroCell(TM)-FE for focal epilepsy, porcine neural cells for stroke and intractable pain and spinal cord cells for spinal cord injury. Also under development are hepatocytes for acute liver failure and for cirrhosis, myoblasts for cardiac disease and retinal epithelial cells for macular degeneration.